The Witch Cat (Original)
by CrimsonStrawberry17
Summary: Original version of the Witch Cat. Only kept for reference to myself and those kind enough to leave me reviews for this one. Partial plot spoiler for any reading the new version.
1. Prolouge

Hello everyone. This is an old fanfic reposted for my own convience. You're welcome to read it, but as I said, it's kind of a plot spoiler for any aiming to read my newer version. This old one will never be finished. But hey, it might catch your attention and inspire you to read the other version.

Disclaimers: I no own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Warnings: Um, mentions of death and slight mentioning of gore. Nothing too bad.

* * *

Thunder flashed in the heavens, rain poured from the black sky. A small child stood in the downpour, clad in a muddy tunic. Trees swayed in the fierce winds, leaves swirling around him. The forest was eerily silent in the darkness, yet it did not bother him. He only stood there, staring at the remains of what once his home. Now it was nothing but a pile of ash, the rain quenching the fire's flame long ago. He could still see blood running down the walls; hear the screams and cries of the servants and his family.

The rain beat down on him harder, as in punishing him for surviving the massacre. He turned and stumbled away from the ruins, not knowing where he was headed. His only thought was to move. To get as far away from his former home as possible. He ignored the pain he received from the forest's brambles, and his shivers. What did it matter that he was cold, he was all alone now.

Who would care if he died within these woods? Humans knew nothing of his kind, or that he even existed. He was far away from any human settlement, and their roads did not extend this far. There was nothing and no one in this endless maze of trees. He stumbled and fell, then just lied there, unable to get up, nor did he find any reason to. He closed his eyes; sleep claiming him amid the howling wind and pounding rain.

There was throb in the darkness around him. He stirred, feeling a strange presence nearby, one that possessed a powerful aura. _"Wake," _a voice whispered. He frowned, struggling to find his way back to the waking world. _"Open your eyes little one,"_ the voice whispered. Somehow, he managed to open his eyes.

Rain pelted against his face, he was cold, and utterly soaked. Slowly, he turned his head to face the source of the strong aura. A figure stood cloaked in the gloom a few feet from him. _"Come here, child,"_ it whispered. _Why?_ His family was dead, his home was destroyed. What was the point of living? _"Come. Do not give up."_

He merely gazed at the figure, the world beginning to fade around him once more. _"Don't give up."_ The voice came fainter now. He looked again at the figure, without realizing it, he had found his way to his feet. He took an unsteady step towards the stranger, and nearly collapsed, falling to his knees. He pushed himself up again, swaying as the wind and rain wore at him. Another step, the figure held his arms open for him. Another step, the figure reached for him. He stumbled, and fell into the stranger's arms.

Warmth surrounded him, and he buried his face against the soft fabric of the stranger's cloak. Arms encircled him, wrapping him within their warm embrace, holding him against the stranger's cloak. Hands stroked him, and a voice whispered softly into his ears. _"Sleep, little one." _His eyes slipped closed, and his head fell against the stranger's chest. Deep blue eyes smiled gently down at the sleeping child.

The stranger turned and stepped within the swirling shadows. They brushed lovingly against him, and circled around the child in his arms. They were curious about the child, for one so young, he had a strong aura. The shadows vanished, taking the child and their master with them. There was no sign that anyone had ever stood among the dripping trees.


	2. Chapter 1

Returning Home

Sunlight filtered through the thick foliage of the treetops, creating splotches of yellow amid the dark shadows of the forest. Leaves rustled in the warm spring breeze thick with the earthly smell of rain and the scents of blooming flowers. Only one thing disturbed this sanctuary of beauty. A multi-colored figure leapt gracefully from tree branch, leaping across vast distances with ease.

Long spiky black hair tipped in crimson and streaked with gold shook wildly with his movements and the force of the wind created by his speed. Long golden bangs were blown from his pale, angular face. Narrow pools of crimson were focused as he took in his surroundings with a watchful gaze. In place of normal human ears, two black neko ears twitched at the contact with the wind. A long black tail swayed gently behind him, helping to keep balance in his swift movements up among the high branches.

The figure was dressed in a pair of black leather boots that barely came up halfway to his knees. His shirt was black and sleeveless, without any decorations. A pair of loose black cotton shorts came down to his knees, with two silver studded belts crisscrossing over his hips. Several items hung from those belts, including several small waterproof pouches that were brown, green, and blue, as well as a knife, a strange black compass, and a white dragon pendant made of diamond.

His arms were decorated by two black wristbands studded with real silver, similar to his belts. A gold ring set with a ruby adorned his right hand. Across his back was a brown leather pack with a shoulder strap to keep it secure. Around his neck, a crimson ribbon was tied, hung with a golden bell.

Its soft tinkles were the only sounds that came from the cat eared teen moving from tree to tree with a grace and balance only cats could ever hope to achieve.

The neko unhooked the compass and flicked it open, watching it spin, before veering off in a new direction. It had been a gift from Mokuba before he departed, to help him find his way. As long as he had a destination in mind, it would point towards wherever he wanted to go. Unfortunately, it didn't work when he was trying to find someone, which was the main reason he had set out from home.

Home, he thought bitterly. That word was one of the most painful he could think of. To others, home symbolized family and happiness. To him, it brought back the painful memories of that night so long ago. The mansion was his Master's home, not his. It has always been the Mansion to him. Never once had he truly thought of it as home.

Because home was a bittersweet memory. Home was the place he had ran from so long ago. Home was the place where his family and everyone he had ever known had died. Home was the place of the nightmares that kept him awake and shivering in the night until his Master ordered him to go back to bed. Home was . . . . Here.

The edge of the trees abruptly dropped away into a dark area, like an ugly scar in the midst of the beautiful forest. Stone trails still remained, marking the way to the bare and broken skeletons of charred wood and blackened stone that were all that remained of several buildings. There was no sign of life here. Not even weeds could grow within the tainted soil.

The witch cat dropped to the ground, landing nimbly on his feet despite the height he jumped from, causing thick clouds of ash and dust to cloud up. He brushed away the dust that settled on him and walked along a crumbling pathway, the stones rough and uneven beneath his boots. He stopped before what once had been a beautiful cottage, and sighed, before turning away.

He glanced at the compass again, focusing his on his destination and following the arrow out of the ruins. A short distance away, he entered a small hollow. Pushing aside thick branches, he found what he was looking for. Three graves marked by pieces of stones carved with writing stood at the base of a cherry blossom tree. More graves were scattered around the hollow, marked by smaller stones, but it was those three graves that he had come for.

Kneeling between two of them, he traced the name of his younger twin, Yugi. To his left, was the grave of his mother. On Yugi's right side, their father lay in eternal slumber. Master had buried them here eleven years ago, after he had found him that dark stormy night, near death.

Six weeks he had lain in bed, recovering from the trauma and his wounds. For months he had mourned the loss of his family, his world, everything he had ever known. Mourned, until his Master had gotten tired of it and smacked him. But despite his harsh actions against his grief, Master had been the one to get him back on his feet.

The warlock had saved him . . . no, he had demanded that Yami save himself, before offering any help. Demanded he take those last few steps towards him. For him to stand, and not lie down and die. From then on, Master had nursed him back to health, given him a new home, and had become his teacher. As a witch cat, Yami had fallen in easily with the warlock, despite his aloof personality.

It had made him grow strong. His Master was never one for pity. Crying about something only bought him a sneer from the warlock. If he failed in learning something, there was no use in crying about it. It was either get back up and try again, or give up entirely. But his Master did not take kindly to him giving up. If he even thought about it, Master would have cuffed him on the head and demanded he practice straight through the night until he mastered the spell or he collapsed from exhaustion.

To others, it might have sounded cruel. But he knew it was his Master's way of saying he cared. Master didn't say much about his past, but from what small hints Mokuba had dropped; it hasn't been a pleasant one. For whatever reason, his Master had trouble showing emotions. The extent of them was a blank expression, a disappointed scowl, or a sneer. Of course, that was what other people would perceive.

After growing up under his tutelage, he learned to identify different expressions in his Master's eyes, or from the small movements of his face. It helped that he had sharper vision than humans, even the ones with magic in their veins. Mokuba, his Master's younger brother, was just as adept as reading the blue eyed warlock, but that was no surprise. He spent his entire life by his brother's side.

The witch cat sighed and turned away from the graves and pushed away the branches concealing the entrance of the hollow. Taking out his compass once more, he glanced at the spinning arrow before following the new direction it pointed. Running forward, he bounded up a tree and took to the treetops again, leaving no sign of his presence.

_My name is Yami._

_I was born sixteen years ago to a witch cat named Halima and the warlock Aknamkanon. Unfortunately, my parents are dead. They were murdered by an unknown assailant and his little band of followers._

_Once, I had a twin. His name was Yugi. He was murdered too._

_I was only five that night, lost and afraid. I don't know how I escaped the massacre, all I remember is the screaming, the burning heat of the flames consuming my home. And blood. The memory of it will be always be imprinted in my mind._

_I should have died that night. But another warlock named Seto found me. Since then, I've been living under his tutelage, learning all I can about magic. However, it is not the magic I was born with. My father had specialized in Shadow magic, a branch of magic that focuses on illusions and trickery._

_It's a branch that hardly anyone had managed to master, and most people would not dare to try. It is far more dangerous than any of the other branches. Branches such as transfiguration or certain types of summoning can be hard, but it is not as dangerous as mastering the shadows._

_Though my master is young, he has already mastered many branches of magic, including charm magic, potions, elemental control, and the arts of summoning. Transfiguration, however, my master had a blatant disregard for. In other words, he's never bothered to even consider learning it. _

_Out of all the branches of magic, my master's studies mostly revolved around the arts of animal summoning and elemental control. My master's favored element is that of water. Like everything he put his mind to, he has honed his control to perfection. Most witches and warlocks who choose elemental bending, no matter how adept they become, always needed physical movements to help guide their magic. Seto has progressed past that to the point of willing water to move by thought alone._

_However, this is not his greatest accomplishment, according to Mokuba. Apparently, he's the youngest warlock to ever summon one of the most difficult and dangerous animal summon in the whole world, which has earned him the title Dragon Master. On top of that, only a handful of people have ever gotten close to a dragon and lived, and even fewer were able summon one. Not to mention Seto's the only one still alive today that can summon one._

_Indeed, my master has a fascination with summoning dragons, particularly a white dragon with blue eyes named Kisara. If they weren't two different species, I would have thought they'd been married by now._

_But in any case, as a witch cat, I've absorbed some of Seto's abilities. However, learning new magic was difficult for me. Being the son of a warlock, and living the first five years of my life in his presence, and the presence of my mother who was bonded to him her whole life, my father's magic was deeply ingrained in me._

_Other than the fact that learning the path of the shadows was extremely dangerous, there was also the fact that once you've mastered it, you couldn't learn any other branch of magic. Shadow magic had a bad habit of clashing with all the other branches of magic. Trying could get you killed._

_However, I had no teacher to teach me how to control the shadows. Shadow masters are very rare, and as luck would have it, my father was the only Shadow master in existence._

_So having no alternative, I was forced to learn to use the new abilities I gained from my bond with Seto._

_Charms were the easiest to master. All it is, are simple spells cast by incantations in the Latin language. However, charms are not very powerful, and are rather limited depending on your abilities and skill in other branches: a prime reason why warlocks and witches were taught charms as basics when they were children. Once charms were mastered, they were allowed to progress to other branches of magic. It is quite uncommon that a warlock or witch would have only mastered one branch of magic._

_Potions were a bit trickier to learn. Though I had lots of patience, thanks to constant exposure to my master, I never got the knack of making them. Making potions was rather like cooking, and to be honest, I can only manage to cook a few things that are even remotely edible. However, due to my master's persistence, I have managed to memorize and accurately make some of the potions Seto taught me._

_Elemental control was another matter entirely. As I was a witch cat who gained the ability, I did not have the luxury of choosing an element I wished to pursue. Instead, I was stuck with having to learn whichever of the four main elements suited my personality the best. And therein laid my problem. My element was fire._

_Despite Seto's best efforts, that night long ago left its mark on me, one of which was the fear of fire. It took Seto years to even get me to relax around a fire, and that was with Mokuba's help. But I refused to learn to control it. Watching my family die in those flames, remembering their screams and the ashy remains of my home . . . there was no way I could even consider learning to use the very thing that had destroyed my old life._

_My master, the arrogant and persistent bastard that he was, taught me the basics of elemental control anyways. But I've never used the techniques. The thought of trying made me sick._

_I've never really bothered to learn animal summoning. I was already part cat, with the ability to change into either a regular house cat or a panther. What need do I have of an animal summon?_

_Through Seto, I do have a connection with the dragons, and I can summon Kisara if I truly needed to, but doing so would drain me of most of my energy. Magical creatures required more skill to summon than regular animals, and the more powerful they were, the more energy and skill it required. I know the basics well enough, although I've never actually tried to summon any animal._

_Of course, there was a reason other than petty fears and the lack of interest that was the cause of my poor mastering of Seto's magic. Part of it lied with my natural magic, the shadows I've inherited from my father. Despite now being bonded with Seto, the magic was part of me, whether or not I wanted it._

_The shadows responded to my emotions, and they were dangerous. Although illusions were what the shadows were known for, they could do other things too, like suck a person's soul out of their body and allow you to use a realm known as the Shadow Realm to teleport to a new location within a short amount of time._

_I did not know how to do any of that, but according to master, it had been the shadows that brought him to the forest where I was all those years ago. Knowing that made me determined to learn the path of shadows._

_But my master could only tell me the basics of shadow magic. I had to learn to how to control the shadows on my own. It hasn't been easy. And using the Shadow magic along with Seto's magic has made me fall ill quite a few times, but I've never stopped trying._

_After a few years, I think the shadows finally accepted the fact that they were not the only magic I would be using and started cooperating with me more. I've become adept at creating illusions, although I've yet to begin to understand how to do this "shadow travel" Seto spoke of. Nor have I tried removing someone's soul from their bodies._

_Of course, not everything I've learned from my master was the use of magic. Seto was a very practical man, who held firm in the belief that one should not rely on magic for everything. For that reason, I've become rather skillful at handling a dirk. Seto himself prefers a sword, but I am lighter than him and far more swifter, though I could not say who would win should we ever duel._

_Archey is another form of weaponry that Seto had taught me, but despite my skill with it, I still prefer the dirk. It is concealed far more easily than a quiver of arrows and a bow._

_But aside from learning how to use weapons, Seto taught me survival skills. Years and years' worth of lessons on what is and isn't edible in the wild, first aid, trap making, how to start a natural campfire, and much more have been drilled into my head by that insufferable prick, but I knew he meant well._

_But now, after eleven years, I've returned to my birthplace. I've mastered Seto's magic as well as I could, and I've gone as far with the shadows as I dared. Now it's time to see how well I can hunt. For I made a promise to my family all those years ago. I'm going to find the bastard that took my family away. And I'm going to make him pay, no matter what._

Yeah, this chapter was mostly explanations on Yami's abilities, some background, and what happened with his family.

*Neko means "cat" in Japanese.

Now then, there are several points I'd like to clarify in order for things to make sense:

1.) That compass Yami has? I borrowed it from Pirates of the Caribbean. It's Jack's compass, except instead of pointing to his heart's desire, it points in the direction of a place Yami wants to go, like leading him back to his old home.

2.) Whenever Yami calls Seto "master" he's referring to the fact that he's his teacher. Using the term "master" was widely used in medieval times.

3.) The bond Yami is talking about is something I made up. I realized that I can't have Yami just picking up magical abilities from every witch or warlock he meets. So, in explanation, when a "bond" is formed, it allows the witch cat to gain the abilities of the warlock/witch. However, the witch cat must want the bond to happen, and must have the warlock/witch's consent and their willingness to teach them. Also, witch cats can only bond once, so unless their present master dies, they cannot form a bond with another witch or warlock. Hope this makes sense.

4.) There are no Millennium Items, there is no Zorc, and there are no Duel Monsters. There are souls trapped inside the Shadow Realm, but for the purpose of this story, it is merely a realm of shadows. Also, the shadows are sort of like living shadows; they can think, but they're not really that intelligent. The shadows all share the same conscious, so none of them are really separate entities. They feed off energy and emotions, and respond to their wielder's thoughts and emotions.

5.) Witches and warlocks are not humans. My version of them is that they're the offspring of elves crossed with humans with magical abilities. So in a sense, they're dark elves, and they have pointed ears and are as graceful as an elf. They also have the life spans of an elf, so they live for a long time.

Yes, I do realize that I've taken liberty with this, but this is fanfiction. If people can make the naïve, sweet, innocent little Yugi, who would feel guilty hurting a fly into a butt-kicking vampire slayer, or a naughty little sex fiend, then I can very well make up my own version of what witches and warlocks are! Excuse my ranting.

Thank you for reading, and please review. I'd like to hear what you think of this story. Good? Bad?


	3. Chapter 2

Welcome to chapter two of Witch Cats. I'm rather proud of myself: this got to be ten pages long when so far, all the others were rather short. Yay me!

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. I don't own anything but the plot, the forests of Fey, and the imaginary town of Glennwood.

Warnings: Cussing?

AN: This chapter switches between scenes involving separate characters. Jou gets introduced in this chapter!

Chapter Two: Strangers Should Never Tarry

Loud voices and festive music could be heard drifting through the thin walls of the most frequented pub in all of Glennwood. It was a small town, but located at the base of a valley beyond the forests of Fey near the crossroads, it was a thriving place due to the travelers that came and went. The valley provided plenty of game to hunt, though none dared to venture into the forest, and the river that wound away into the valley provided fresh water and good fishing. Farms dotting the valley side also provided fresh produce for the town.

However, this town was a strange one. Although never proven, the forests of Fey have long been held to be the home of several magical races, hence the name, and most of whom were not friendly towards the humans. For it was human town, inhabited by humans, and run solely on old human traditions.

It was for this reason alone a young teen by the name of Jounochi was forced to survive on pickpocketing unsuspecting travelers and sleep in whatever hiding place he could find. Because if he was discovered, he would suffer a rather grisly fate. He had, unfortunately, been cursed with a gift. And around here, where humans with magical gifts were scorned, it was deadly.

And unfortunately, he couldn't leave. Tall walls surrounded the town, with guards constantly roving the perimeter. At the gates, there was always a trio of guards standing watch, and anyone who went in or out was checked. And Jou, regrettably, had been caught once before, and now bore a mark that would get him arrested before he could even blink.

It had been when he first came to the village, before he even knew he had a gift. The guards had found no signs of magic on him, and he had been let in. Then one night, he had gotten drunk and insulted the wrong man. A fight had started, and had ended with the death of one man and a terrible discovery of his gift. Guards had arrested him on the spot, and left a carved reminder of his ability on his left arm near the shoulder.

Due to dumb luck, he had managed to escape the prison before they came back to publicly execute him in front of the whole town. Since then, he'd been careful to remain inconspicuous and only steal from unwary travelers in the less populated areas. Even if only a handful of people knew or ever saw him, he could never be too careful. It bad enough going to the markets to pay for food, but at least in that part of town there was melee of strangers and no one gave him a second look.

But someday, he'd find a way out. He'd get free of these walls and a life of sleeping in dark alleyways and stealing for a living. An opportunity would come, he just knew it. He just wished it would hurry up and get here.

~Insert Line Break Here~

Yami stared down at the compass, cursing the compass and himself for his stupidity the umpteenth time in the last half hour. _Why_ for the love of catnip had he not thought to bring some _maps_ with him? Stuck with a compass that pointed unceasingly forward, the witch cat paced back and forth as he sought to solve this unforeseen dilemma.

He crossed his arms and glanced over the edge of the ravine, bordering the edge of a lush valley. Normally, this would be no problem, except for certain inhabitants of said ravine. One of which was looking right back at him. Yami did a double take as his tail puffed, his ears flattening against his head as he bared his fangs at the large silver coated wolf that was at least twice the size of a regular wolf.

It was a Silver Fang, which grew larger and stronger through the magic that saturated the air and earth within these woods. There was only one pack in existence, and they never left their hunting grounds that surrounded the ravine. However, they were notorious for attacking anyone and anything that they caught in their territory.

Several more joined the lone wolf and Yami immediately abandoned his threatening stance and hightailed it up the nearest tree. One, he could take. Two, with a little luck. Half a dozen? Completely hopeless. Better he retreated and tried to find a town or village somewhere where he could find a map of the area.

After he thought he'd put enough distance between him and the ravine, he landed on the thickest branch he could find on the surrounding trees and settled down to consult the compass. He didn't really like it here. The trees in this part of the forest were sickly and thin, which was surprising considering the magic the forest of Fey was known for.

The compass around spun back and forth lazily, and in his annoyance, he failed to notice the cracks forming on the branch he was sitting on. However, he heard the soft crunch of something below him on the forest ground, and looked down. Six pairs of menacing yellow eyes stared hungrily back up at him.

The Silver Fangs had followed him.

There was a loud crack and Yami spun around and sank his claws into the bark of the tree trunk not a moment too soon. The branch he was sitting on gave away and crashed to the ground, doing nothing to frighten the wolves other than the reaction to jump out the way to avoid being crushed by the branch. They sat there, waiting for him. Yami groaned and leaned his forehead against the rough bark.

How humiliating. He set off on a journey to avenge his family, but ended up getting lost with no maps and nothing but a stupid compass that only pointed towards the direction of his destination. Then he was chased up a tree and was now clinging to said tree by only his claws as the branch he was on decided to give away with six hungry wolves sitting and waiting for him to fall to the ground. Seto would die laughing if he ever found out.

_Alright Yami, you can do this,_ he thought to himself. _There's a town nearby, in . . ._ That was when Yami realized one vital thing. He was no longer holding the compass. The neko glanced down at the waiting wolves and the black and gold marked compass lying innocently at their feet.

The witch cat huffed. This day could not get any worse. There was a loud chittering noise as the branches rustles above him and a nut thunked off of Yami's forehead, courtesy of a territorial squirrel.

"The universe just _loves_ proving me wrong, doesn't it?"

Another nut bounced off his head and he hissed at the squirrel. "When I figure out how, I'm getting rid of those wolves, getting my compass back, and when I come back you'd better run for your life because I will not be letting you keep it!"

~Insert Line Break Here~

Somewhere far away, sitting within a comfortable study, a blue eyed brunette looked up, a bemused expression on his face, which didn't go unnoticed by his companion.

"What are you looking like that for, Seto?" the black haired preteen asked, confused.

"I really have no idea. I just have the strangest feeling that I'm missing out on something funny, like that time I found Miw-Sher stuck up that tree in the middle of a rainstorm, too afraid to come down and looking like a drowned cat."

Mokuba blinked at him. "But Yami isn't here. Are you sure you're not just missing him?"

"I know he's not here. I just can't shake the feeling that Yami's got himself into some completely ridiculous and comical situation again."

The younger warlock didn't know what to say to that as he glanced around the study. His eyes landed on a small table. "Um, big brother?"

"Hn."

"We forgot to give Yami the maps."

~Insert Line Break Here~

Jou yawned as he pushed open the cleverly hidden trap door he had made in the floor, before making his way through a loose board that made up the walls of the old crumbling house and slipped outside.

He had found this house weeks ago, and discovered an old cellar beneath it. After long nights of hard work and sneaking around, he managed to get enough bricks and some mud to build a wall in the cellar. It was big enough for him to sleep and walk around in, while not making it obvious that there was a wall in the cellar where there shouldn't be if anyone happened to wander inside the abandoned rundown house.

He had painstakingly carved a hole in the ground, and made a trap door to cover it, along with a self-made ladder of ropes to help him get in and out. It was one the best hiding places he's had for a while now. He didn't have to wake up constantly in the middle of the night to hide from patrols or keep finding new locations. The only major problem with this place was the fact that it was dark down there. But as Jou didn't mind, his ability could take of that.

Casually ducking into an alleyway as a guard patrol walked by, he made his way through the maze-like alleys to the town center. Jou was constantly watching his surroundings as he walked through the marketplace, munching on a juicy red apple he had filched from a nearby vender without their noticing.

He was feeling unusually chipper today, though he couldn't say why. Normally, living in this town made him gloomy and irritable. Sure, there were times when he had been cheered by the thought of one day leaving this miserable place. But overall, he was living in a semi-depressed state of life. It was only that promise he had made long ago that kept him from giving up completely.

~Insert Line Break Here~

Yami washed the dirt off of his hands. The mound of dirt that was a squirrel's final resting place was a few feet away from him further along the riverbank. His compass was carefully cleaned of dirt and retied to one of his belts. The wolves were long gone now, after Yami had managed to discourage them with a little charm magic. One of Silver Fangs' greatest strengths was also their greatest weakness.

Yami couldn't confuse them with illusions, because he only knew how to manipulate a person's visual senses. He was still practicing on how to weave sound and scents into the illusions. The Silver Fangs had a very developed sense of smell, and even if their vision told them one thing, their noses told them the truth.

So if he couldn't frighten them away or convince them he wasn't there, he had to find another way. The solution was surprisingly simple. Silver Fangs had a strong aversion to the scent of wolf's bane. Using charm magic to make the plant grow at the base of the tree hadn't been easy, but after an twenty minutes of trying, he managed to grow enough for the scent to become too strong for the wolves. After an hour or so of pacing a wide circle around the tree Yami was in, they eventually gave up and returned to the ravine.

It had been quick work for Yami to reclaim his compass and chase down the annoying squirrel, which was regretting its decision to throw nuts at the witch cat somewhere in squirrel heaven right about now. Yami grumbled at the memory, rubbing the red spot on his forehead and checking his compass again. The arrow obediently moved to point in the right direction and Yami headed off.

In the back of his mind, something nagged at him. Something about some town or other outside of the forest of Fey that his master had warned him to stay away from. What was it called again? Glennwood? Oh well, surely there was another village or town somewhere around here.

Fifteen minutes later Yami was staring at the large sign that read 'Glennwood Town' and cursing to whatever deity was listening. No matter how many times he checked the compass, it pointed ceaselessly at the town. Yami sighed. He really needed a map: otherwise he would be walking around the forests of Fey blindly and getting nowhere. Or worse, walk right into another territory and have another incident like with the Silver Fangs.

Yami paused at the idea, his mind made up. Seto had told him to stay away from the town, something about humans that hated magical humans and believed in all of the old superstitions, including the ones that believed witch cats were bad luck and unless you killed it before midnight was struck, you would be cursed with eternal bad luck. Yami grimaced at the thought.

That superstition was quite common among humans everywhere, and even the other races. Witches and warlocks were also scorned by the human race. With that thought in mind, Yami sighed and drew an illusion around him. To all appearances, he looked like a regular human with brown eyes and long black hair. On a whim, he packed away his two red and green pouches.

He made his way confidently towards the gate where he could see a trio of soldiers sitting around a table and gambling with a pair of dice through a window inside the guard house. He knocked politely on the iron gates to get their attention and smiled wearily at them as they looked up. Noticing a stranger, one stood and made his way to the gate to peer through the bars at him.

"A traveler, eh? Wots your business here?" he asked in a bored tone that clearly stated he had said those lines at least a thousand times before.

"I had an unfortunate accident involving some curious raccoons last night. They ran off with most of my food and strangely, my maps. You're the only but of human civilization around here as far as I know where I could find some new maps and replenish my supplies." Yami grinned and rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly.

The guard blinked at him, then threw his head back and laughed, completely falling for Yami's act. "A raccoon, eh? Did ya camp close ter the forest or somthin?"

"Erm, yes, I did. On the fringes. There was some good firewood there."

"Heh, they don't call it the forests of Fey fer nuthin, kid. There's some freaky thangs livin' in those woods," the guard laughed, opening the gates. "Oi! Jerome, come over here and check this kid over fer magic would ya?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming." A lanky man came over with a strange glass sphere and moved it around Yami. It was easy for Yami weave an illusion around the sphere, preventing the two guards from seeing the bright, multi-colored glow coming from the orb that signified the presence of magic.

Jerome scratched his head. "Well that's strange. The orb's warm but it's not showing any signs of magic. Maybe this thing's getting overused."

Yami gave a mental sigh of relief that humans were stupid and trusted their sight more than their other senses as the first guard stepped aside and allowed him into the town. He just hoped they weren't paying attention to his shadow, or else they would have noticed a very tell_tail_ sign that he wasn't human. (1)

But nobody noticed and Yami headed towards the center of the town where the marketplace was likely to be located. If he was going to find a map, it was the best place to find one. He might even get a bite to eat if he found a good enough pub. Yami glanced at the sun which was slowly traveling across the afternoon sky into sunset. If this town wasn't so dangerous, he might've even spent the night in one of the inns.

At the thought of a nice warm bed complete with pillows and thick bed sheets he gave a mournful meow, before instantly hushing and continuing on like nothing had happened. Making cat noises in the middle of a town that hated his people's guts was not a good thing. But how he missed his bedroom back at the Mansion, with all those thick fluffy pillows and the soft, warm blankets.

Yami cursed at himself softly. He was on a mission. Being homesick was not going to help him find his family's murderers, and neither did fantasizing over warm beds and fluffy pillows. Even if the idea was _very_ tempting. He yawned, flashing a pair of fangs. The sun wasn't helping him either. It was so warm; he just wanted to curl up and take a nap.

Shaking away the idea, Yami took a glance around the noise grew louder, mixed with the scents of food that told him he had found the marketplace.

A second later, he rounded a corner and saw what he was looking for. A large area in a roughly circular shape was scattered with pavilions and stalls and filled with bustling people and animals everywhere he looked. The buildings that bordered the market were the ones you would commonly find near the marketplace, such as a bakery, a blacksmith shop complete with a forge, the butcher shop, a pub, and the local inn. There was even a barn off to one side where patrons of the pub and inn customers could rest their horses.

Yami wandered among the vendors, searching, until the smell of parchment reached his nose. Following it, he found a large stall that was selling parchment and ink. His ears flicked in annoyance as he turned away to continue his search. It took him over an hour of pushing and shoving and apologizing to find what he was looking for.

Yami paid for the few maps that he had found that included a map of the county and a map of the surrounding areas. He left the pavilion and continued to wander around the market, deciding to find a vendor that sold food. A blonde male smacked into him, causing the neko to wrinkle his nose at the unwashed smell of the human. Then he realized something. The human reeked of magic.

"Eh, sorry about that," the blonde apologized, helping him up and then disappearing into the crowd before Yami could get a good look at him. The shadows swirled angrily around him. _Thief_, they hissed angrily, and too late Yami realized the shadows had manifested themselves into the physical world.

The crowd around him had stilled, and Yami realized another thing. His illusion was no longer in place.

"Witch cat," the words were whispered throughout the crowd as the men closed in around him. Yami watched the humans with wary eyes. His ears flattened to his head as his tail puffed, and he backed away, eyes searching for a way out. Fear invaded his senses. He couldn't think. He wanted so badly to run away, but there was nowhere to go.

Something crashed down onto his head and he whimpered, before the ground rushed up to meet him.

~Insert Line Break Here~

Jou watched as the strange teen who, a moment ago, had black hair and brown eyes, was backed into a corner by the mob. His tail was puffed out and his ears were flattened to his head. Jou had grown up all his life hearing about the strange cat people known as witch cats. At night, the old folk used to tell children that a witch would get them if they didn't go to sleep, and if they misbehaved, the witch cats would curse you with bad luck.

Looking at the witch cat now, Jou couldn't help to feel sorry for him. It wasn't the people that saw them that got bad luck, the blonde thought, it was the witch cats who were seen by people like the residents of this town. Jou had the sickening feeling that this was his fault that the witch cat was being dragged away in chains.

Jou followed the crowd, which was rapidly becoming thicker as word of the witch cat was being passed around. Jou felt disgusted at them all. They were all coming to see the witch cat's execution, and from the sounds of things, they were burning him at the stake. Jou stopped, an idea forming in his mind.

He glanced around the crowd and discreetly slipped from it into the alleyways. He needed to be closer if his plan was going to work.

~Insert Line Break Here~

Yami groaned as he slowly came to, opening his eyes as he looked blearily around him, before snapping wide open as he saw the crowd that stood jeering at him. Yami looked down, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He was tied to a stake, standing on a large pile of wood and kindling. He was going to be burned alive at the stake.

That thought drove him to panic as he saw the torch bearers marching through the crowd, torches held up proudly as they ceremoniously walked towards their victim. Somewhere, a part of his mind not yet consumed by panic laughed at the irony. He was going to die, and he was going to die in the same way he had nearly died all those years ago.

The torch bearers had reached him now, and with a loud cheer from the crowd, the two men threw their torches onto the wood pile. The kindling caught, and the flames spread. Within moments, the fire had spread to a complete circle around him. Yami struggled with his binds, the crowd laughing at his desperate sobs as the flames began to lick at him. Yami felt sick, the air was getting thinner, and he couldn't think.

Yami shut his eyes as a spark landed on his clothes, determined not to watch the gleeful faces of the townspeople as he burned, only for them to snap wide open as the humans gasped.

Crimson eyes widened as the fire curved away from him, circling into a thick ring of fire, began thickening, becoming longer until took a familiar shape. The humans screamed in terror and scattered. Someone jumped onto the wood pile behind Yami, and a second later, Yami's hands were free.

"What?"

Yami stared uncomprehendingly at the blonde human he had run into earlier, who had his leather pack slung across his shoulder. "I'll explain later, let's go!" The human grabbed his hand and started to run. Yami had no choice but to stumble after him through the crowd of panicking humans.

They had run halfway to the gates when shouts of anger erupted behind them. Yami glanced back and whimpered at the mob of humans chasing them with murderous looks on their faces. Most of them had weapons or household items they had picked up from somewhere among the confusion.

The clanging of the town's warning bell sounded and guards everywhere jumped to attention and joined in on the chase. The blonde skidded to a stop as a platoon marched out of the alleyways and surrounded them. Yami closed his eyes and concentrated, weaving the shadows into an illusion. People screamed as a pack of Silver Fangs appeared out of thin air and chased them away.

The blonde looked surprised, but he grinned as he grabbed Yami's hand and started running again. There was an explosion somewhere behind them and they both looked back. A house had caught on fire and collapsed on the building next to it. Jou caught the witch cat's eye and grinned again. "Welcome to Glennwood, where strangers should never tarry."

Crimson eyes blinked in amusement at the statement, before they widened at the reception waiting at the gate for them. The blonde ground to a halt and the witch cat suddenly ducked behind him. He seemed to be searching for something in his pack, which Jou still had slung across his back. Whatever it was, he had better find it soon because their reception wasn't content to sit and wait for them.

"Aha!" The witch cat grabbed something from the pack and darted out from behind Jou, holding a green pouch in his hand. He drew out some green powder and blew it gently towards the approaching guards. They skidded to stop and backed away, fearful of what enchantments may have been placed on the powder.

"Cover your mouth and hold your breath," the neko whispered to him, before grabbing Jou's hand and dashing through the crowd. The guards were reeling now, and a few of them collapsed onto the ground. Jou didn't have time to question what the powder was as they reached the gates and the neko momentarily stooped as they passed a guard.

It wasn't until he righted that Jou realized that he had found the keys to the gate. It took barely four seconds for the witch cat to unlock the gate and pull Jou through it. Together they slammed the gate shut against the newer guards and locked it, Yami tossing the key off in a random direction as he took off towards the woods. Jou followed him.

~Insert Line Break Here~

It seemed like hours that they ran for, until they finally collapsed, panting on the forest floor. Jou kept a wary eye on their surroundings. He knew the stories that surrounded the forests of Fey, and it was difficult to discern what was false and what was true about the rumors. Jou only hoped that the witch cat knew how to get out of the forest.

After a few moments, they managed to sit up and Jou glanced at the other. "So . . . you're witch cat," he stated awkwardly.

The witch cat tensed, eyes watching Jou warily as his tail flicked back and forth in what Jou assumed was a nervous habit. " . . . Yes," he finally replied.

"That's cool. I'm Jou," Jou said, before remembering something. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I got your little sword thingies for ya." He set down the witch cat's pack and took the two sheathed blades off his belt and tossed them on the ground next to the witch cat.

The other looked between the weapons and the blonde. Finally, he picked them up and reattached them to his belts. "They're dirks, not swords," he corrected, brushing a blonde bang behind his ear.

"So, does the witch cat has a name?" Jou asked, resting his arms on his knees as he studied the other, wondering if the multicolored hair was natural, or had been altered by magic.

" . . . It's Yami," the witch cat replied, before looking Jou up and down. "Do you mind giving me back the purse you stole earlier?"

Jou grinned sheepishly and handed over the brown leather pouch. "Sorry about that. One has to find some way of living in a place that'll string you up the moment they realize you've got magic."

"Yes, I sensed you had magic earlier. What exactly is your ability?" Yami asked curiously.

"Eh, well, I'm not sure what you'd call in magic speak, or whatever, but I can do this," Jou held up his palm as he spoke and a small flame ignited. He grinned as he looked back up, only to realize that Yami was no longer with him. He looked around. "Yami?" he called.

A faint mewl made him look up to find Yami crouched in a tree, claws digging in the thick branch with his ears laid back and his tail puffed. The witch cat's eyes were wide and full of panic. "Uh, are you okay?" Jou asked, before he closed his hand and put out the flame. "Hey, I'm sorry for upsetting you, alright?"

Yami whimpered at him, and he didn't seem to be aware of anything outside of what was going on in his own mind. Jou glanced around, not knowing what to do, before sighing. He grunted as he started to climb awkwardly, occasionally slipping down the trunk and bloodying his fingers until he finally managed to clamber onto the branch Yami was on.

"Hey man, are you okay?" he asked, slowly scooting his way across the tree limb and trying not to think of how high they were. It made him wonder how Yami had gotten up here so fast. The branch was at least twenty feet off of the ground.

Yami was still frozen with that fearful look on his face. He seemed unaware of Jou's presence next to him. Jou frowned and carefully wriggled Yami's hands until the claws loosened, and he could've sworn Yami didn't have them before, and pulled the witch cat into his arms, stroking his ears gently.

Jou had to fight back a laugh when Yami relaxed into his arms and started purring. When he felt Yami had calmed down enough, he pulled him back and looked him right in the eye. "Yami, I don't know why you're so afraid of fire, and I ain't gonna pry, but I ain't gonna hurt you. I would've left you there if I wanted to do that."

Yami stared silently up at him, before nodding. "Jou? Why were you in Glennwood anyways? You knew of its reputation, didn't you?"

"Well, yes. But I didn't know I could do that fire stuff when I first went there. I found out on an accident in front of a bunch of witnesses in a pub, and I got stuck there with no way out. And what about you? You had to have known of Glennwood's hatred towards magic and cat people."

"Yeah, I knew. But I needed some maps and that was the closest place I could find with the compass," Yami explained, standing up and moving out of Jou's arms.

"Wait a minute, if you had no map, how would a compass help you find anything other than which way north is?" Jou asked, confused.

"It's charmed to point to locations I want to go," Yami clarified, taking a black compass with gold markings out of his pack and showing it to him.

"Oh, okay. Just one more question. Could ya help me down? This branch is a little too high up for my taste," Jou said, glancing down and wishing he hadn't. He didn't notice the gleam in Yami's eyes until he looked up to find the witch cat next to him. Before Jou could say anything, Yami grabbed onto Jou and jumped. Jou screamed the entire way down, his voice jolting as Yami leapt from branch to branch until he landed on the forest floor, perfectly balanced.

Jou stumbled, dizzy from the sudden drop, before dropping to the ground and moaning as the world spun around him. Yami crouched concernedly down at him, "Sorry, I forgot how frail humans can be."

"I am _not_ frail. I am just not used to being jumped out of trees at that height and that speed. Strike that, I'm not used to being in a tree at all."

Yami laughed and helped him up. The witch cat waited until he was sure Jou wasn't going to fall over again and paced over to his pack. He dug into the pack and pulled out a third leather pouch, a red one this time, which he tied next to the other two. Seeing the green one, Jou asked what it was.

"Sleeping powder. Very hard to make," Yami replied, slinging his pack's strap over his shoulder. Without a backwards glance towards Jou, he pulled out his compass and started walking away.

"Hey wait! You're just gonna leave me here, in the middle of these woods? I don't know jack about what's true or not true about this forest. Besides, you're the one with the magic compass."

Yami glanced at him, before shrugging. "Then come along, human, and I'll lead you out. Then you can go back to wherever it is you came from."

"Where are you going anyways?"

"I made a promise to my family, and I plan on fulfilling it."

"A promise, eh? I made a promise too, to my sister. Maybe we can help each other," suggested, grinning.

Yami looked back at him with solemn crimson eyes. I'm not sure that you'd want to, Jou."

~Insert Line Break Here~

Ta Da! Jou appears in the scene, and he's an elemental control over the very element that Yami is so afraid of. Originally, I was going to have him as a type of canine demon, but I decided that was too cliché and I thought it would suit a future character's attitude better. Plus, one of his favorite cards is Flame Swordsman. I thought it fit rather well.

On that note, I know I said Duel Monsters weren't involved in this fic, but due to a lack of creativity with names, I used Silver Fangs. They're not Duel Monsters in this fic, so if any more pop up, they're going to be magical creatures existing in the mortal realm rather than being Shadow Creatures.

Hmm, there was a lot of conversation towards the end. A lot of switching between the characters. And I believe I left you with a cliff hanger, I'm not exactly sure. In any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of The Witch Cat.

Review Please! And please tell me that I'm not the only one who finds the image of Yami clinging to a tree being pelted by nuts and threatening the squirrel responsible for throwing said nuts funny.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 3

I apologize for the over a month long wait for the few people who are even bothering to read this past the prologue and on to the third chapter. I kind of got caught up in my other fic. There was also the fact that I didn't know what to write. I kept confusing myself. I knew where I wanted to go, but not how to get there. So, I forced myself to ignore the tempting internet and sit down to write down which characters I was using from yugioh and decide on their race, abilities, and their roles in this fanfic. I haven't gotten everyone I wanted to use down, I'm still deciding on their race or roles, but everyone that's coming up in the next few chapters have been put down, so unless I suddenly get writer's block, expect a quicker update. I thank everyone for their patience and I hope you enjoy. This is my longest chapter yet. (For this fic anyways.)

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh is not mine.

Warnings: Cussing, very slight angst at the end, or at least, it made _me_ tear up when I was writing it. But my emotions are whack, so I'm not sure about the rest of you. But who cares? On with the fic!

Chapter 3: Mystic Hollow

Jou yelped and stumbled along behind Yami, both hands clutching tightly to the back of the witch cat's leather pack. The sun had set hours ago, and yet Yami refused to stop, instead continuing on. Apparently, witch cats had a lot in common with regular cats, like the ability to see with virtually nonexistent light that Jou's human eyes couldn't pick up.

He wanted badly to light a flame so he could see where he was going, but after Yami's reaction earlier this afternoon . . . well, Jou didn't need his only means of survival out here in these dark woods to disappear on him or freeze up again. Plus, the fire could act as a beacon and bring every predator out searching for snacks right to them.

Yami didn't say much about himself, or anything at all really. He just kept watching his compass and walking forward. Jou wondered how much longer he would keep going. He himself was ready to collapse. Yami showed no signs of slowing or stopping at all.

"Yami . . ." he panted, "It's the middle of the night. Can we stop now? Please? I'm human; I don't have your incredible stamina to keep on going."

Luminous crimson eyes glanced back at him, momentarily creeping Jou out, before he heard the witch cat sigh. "I don't think that's a good idea, Jou. Especially since you're human. Your scent's rather strong."

"Are you saying I smell?" Jou lifted his arm and sniffed it.

"Yes . . . well, not in the way you're thinking. I meant to races like mine, who have animalistic qualities, or worse, actual animals: everything has a distinct scent that humans can't detect. Well, you can detect the plant scents, and some animals . . . But never mind, the point is, humans stand out with their scents. Especially in a forest."

"And yours doesn't?" Jou asked.

"No, mine pretty much blends in with the rest of the scents here."

Jou groaned before tripping over a large tree root and collapsing. "Okay, dat's it. I'm not going one step further and screw all da animals that wanna eat me!"

Yami's glowing eyes blinked slowly at him, before the witch cat sighed and hauled the blonde to his feet. "Come on, if you're going to sleep, then you're doing it up in the tree where most everything around here can't get you."

Jou didn't seem to hear him as Yami wrapped his arm around him and awkwardly climbed up the nearest tree. The blonde muttered, already out of it as the neko pulled out some rope and tied the blonde to the branch beneath him so he wouldn't fall out in his sleep. He wedged his pack between two forked branches and leapt. A small black house cat landed lightly on Jou's chest and curled up into a ball of dark fur.

~INSERT LINE BREAK HERE~

Jou woke up the next morning with the strangest feeling of being on the edge of a high cliff and something warm on his chest that was rumbling faintly as he breathed in and out. He opened his eyes and stared at the small mass of black fur on his lying comfortably on his torso. It was . . . _purring?_

There was a rustle of leaves above him and a small bird hopped out onto a small branch, chirping. Those branches seemed awfully close . . . It was then he looked down and screamed as he realized he was lying on a branch over thirty feet up in the air. The black thing on his chest puffed as he screamed and leapt up, ears laid back and its' puffed up tail ramrod straight into the air.

Crimson eyes blinked at him, before the cat relaxed and stretched, arching his back and causing Jou to yelp as claws briefly dug into his skin. Yawning widely the cat sat down and began licking its paw and rubbing it behind its ear in the usual cat fashion. It continued to give itself a bath, licking all over and making Jou redden slightly as it lifted its leg and started to lick its stomach, revealing a certain part of its anatomy that attested that it was indeed a male.

"Oi! Would ya stop that?!" Jou finally shouted; wriggling slightly and realizing there was several ropes binding him to the branch so that he wouldn't fall off. And where was Yami? The witch cat hadn't just left him here and continued on, had he?

The cat stopped in mid-lick, and looked at him, his small pink tongue half sticking out. It stood and walked along Jou's chest until he reached his neck and jumped over his over. However, it wasn't a cat that landed on the branch behind Jou's head. Golden bangs swayed lightly across the pale face as ruby orbs looked amusedly down at Jou's bewildered expression.

"You can turn into a cat?" Jou finally squeaked, face reddening again as he realized Yami had just given himself a tongue bath on his chest.

"Well of course. Witch cats are just like regular werecats, except for the fact that we have magic and the fact that we have three forms instead of two."

"Wha?" the blonde asked, completely lost.

"Werecats have their human appearance and their housecat appearance. Witch cats can turn into wild cat of their choosing. I chose the panther."

"O~kay, can you get me down now? And _not_ in the way you did last time!" Jou added, seeing the gleam in Yami's eyes.

The witch cat shrugged before pulling loose the rope that bound Jou's chest to the tree loose and leaping effortlessly over him and landing lightly on the other side and untying the rope that secured his legs. Jou sat up and rubbed his back, it was sore after sleeping for so long on the rough branch.

A second later, Yami was tying something around his waist. Jou looked down and found the witch cat had tied together the pieces of rope that had bound him to the tree with a longer piece of rope. Yami took hold of the other end of the rope and nodded to the left. "Jump," he said.

"WHAT? Are you crazy! I'm not to going to _ahhhhhhh!_" Jou found himself tumbling off the branch, courtesy of a shove from the neko human. He yelped as he was jerked to a stop and looked up at Yami sitting high in the tree. The tri haired teen held out the rope . . . and dropped it.

Jou screamed in terror, only to have his back hit the ground five seconds later. He scowled at Yami only to find the witch cat was no longer in the tree. Jou yelped when he looked over to see Yami looking curiously at him. How the fuck did he do that?

Yami stared at him before slinging his pack over his shoulder. "You scream like a girl," he said blankly. Jou's scandalous retort was ignored as the witch cat turned away and trailed off into the woods, looking down at his compass. "Coming, human?"

"My name is _Jounochi!_ I don't go around calling _you_ witch cat all the time!" Jou called after him, scrambling to catch up. Yami didn't reply, just continued on through the woods, muttering to himself in a language Jou had never heard before.

"So . . . what's a witch cat like you doing out here in the big and bad world?" Jounochi asked, half an hour later.

Yami growled in frustration. "That is none of your concern, human," he snapped.

"Geez, pushy, pushy. And what I say about calling me human?" Joey asked, scowling.

"And I care because . . . ?"

Jou opened his mouth to retort, but Yami clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him behind a tree. The witch cat's body was tensed as he peered around the thick trunk of the tree. Jou listened, but he didn't hear anything.

"Climb. _Now._" Yami hissed quietly, turning him around to face the trunk as he peered around the tree again, listening to something the human couldn't detect.

"What?! I just got out of a tree!" the fire elemental complained. Yami silenced the complaint with a glare that had Jou gulping and hurriedly climbing up the trunk with Yami following. Once the witch cat decided they were high enough, he pulled on Jou's leg gently to catch his attention and crawled onto a thick branch, thankful for the enormous girth the trees reached in the forests of Fey.

Jou yelped at the dark shadows that burst out of nowhere and wrapped around them before Yami slapped a hand over his mouth again. "Be still and be quiet. The shadows won't hurt you. It's my magic."

A loud snuffling sound interrupted any further explanation and stalled the questions that were about to tumble from the blonde. Said blonde's eyes widened as a large hulking gray beast with human-like hands on its front legs and wings, one of them bent at an odd angle, prowled around the tree below them.

A whimper escaped Jou at the sight of it, but Yami pressed his hand even tighter across the human's mouth as the creature looked up with black marble eyes before circling the tree several times, screeching. After the fifth circlet, it trod off in a different direction than the one it was heading or came from. After several long minutes, Yami released his hold on Jou.

"What the hell was that!?" Jounochi said in a panicked voice.

"A gargoyle. Nocturnal creatures and very territorial beasts, hunts by tracking scents and noise. Fortunately for us, their race is a particularly stupid one. Although you don't normally see gargoyles during the daytime. They have very limited vision during the night, and can't see during daylight hours at all. Of course, that one was wounded, so it might be disoriented."

Yami leapt from the tree, hopping from branch to branch and landing on the ground within moments. Jou was slowly edging his way down the trunk and muttering curses as he went.

The witch cat rolled his eyes. "Would you hurry it up, slow poke?!"

"Geez, pal. I'm not like you. I don't have a natural talent for climbing trees!" Jou growled.

Yami snorted. "I didn't always know how to climb trees. I couldn't climb one until I was around eight years old."

"Really?" Jounochi asked in wonderment and Yami nodded, his thoughts wandering away into his memories. The forest faded away to a courtyard dotted with stone benches and pathways. Sunlight filtered through the thick foliage of the tree swaying in the gentle breeze above him. The scent of honeysuckle drifted in the warm spring afternoon.

"_Would you stop fidgeting?!" Blue eyes flashed at him, annoyed by the constant squirming his pupil was very effectively demonstrating._

"_Owww! That hurts," Yami whined as Seto wound the linen bandage tightly around his bleeding arm. The witch cat doubted he was even trying to be gentle about it._

"_Well, it's your fault for going up into that tree. I've told you before! Your claws are not strong enough for you to climb yet!" Seto snapped back._

"_Humans do it all the time and they don't have claws!" he argued, only for his master to whack him in the head._

"_You are not a human! You are my apprentice and I swear by the Moon goddess that if you do not start listening to me you will be looking for a new teacher!"_

"_NO!" Yami leapt up and wrapped his arms tight around the elder's legs. "Don't leave me like they did!" he sobbed into the flowing robe that swayed fluidly around his master's legs. Gentle arms pried him away from the legs and embraced him in comforting arms._

"_Never," the warlock promised. "I would never leave you."_

"Er, Yams? Are you alright?" Jou asked, concernedly after finally reaching solid ground. His traveling companion continued to stare off through the trees as though he was seeing something the blonde could not. Perhaps, with his sharper vision, he was. But there was a blank look in the witch cat's eyes that belayed the idea.

"Huh?" Yami snapped back to the present to find the human stare at him with a worried look on his face. "Something wrong?"

"Well, you kinda just started staring off into space for a moment," the teen answered, still staring at him. "By the way. Are you sure you're not part squirrel? The way you bounded down outta that tree was awfully squirrel-like."

SMACK!

Jou was left blinking as he held one hand to his left cheek as Yami stalked off with a scowl on his face and muttering something about demonic squirrels throwing nuts as he rubbed his forehead. Utterly confused, Jou could do nothing but trail warily after the fuming witch cat.

The blonde human didn't dare say anything for the next hour, instead trotting after Yami who was leading the way with his charmed compass. The silence unnerved Jou. He was used to the bustling town of Glennwood, where the sounds never ceased, even during the night. Here, there was only the quiet chirping of birds hidden among the trees and the eerie whistling of the wind.

Jou's face flushed as his stomach growled and Yami glanced over his shoulder at him with a raised eyebrow. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Um . . . lunch time?" he asked hopefully.

Yami rolled his eyes at him before shooting up a nearby tree and the witch cat bounded from tree to tree. The human was barely given time to protest his abandonment when an apple sailed out of nowhere and slammed off his head and bounced off. Yami reappeared in the trees above him as Jou looked up from the red fruit, one hand rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"There's a small stream this way," the witch cat said, pointing, before leaping away in the trees again.

"I swear . . . he's really a squirrel in the guise of a cat," Jou muttered to himself before picking up the apple and rubbing it on his sleeve before taking a bite as he heading in the direction Yami had pointed out.

A small fire was going by the time Jounochi stumbled upon the stream, making Jou frown. Yami had been terrified when he made flames earlier. Why was he being so calm about being next to an open flame now? The witch cat looked at him curiously as he set a small cauldron filled with water over the flames, a dead rabbit next to him.

_Where did he . . . ?_ Jou wondered, staring at the cauldron and the rabbit. Although big enough, there was no way Jou wouldn't have felt the weight of the cauldron that looked to be made of solid iron and would have weighed several pounds inside the pack. And with the brief amount of time Yami had vanished there was no way he could have hunted and slain the rabbit that fast. Jou knew from past experience those blighters were quick.

He was forced to abandon his thoughts as Yami came over and tugged him towards the water. Once Jou reached the banks, the witch cat ripped his shirt off and shoved him. Jou felt the neko tug his boots off along with his pants just before he crashed waist deep in the chilly current.

"What the hell!" he screamed, shivering slightly. It was early spring and it was obvious that this river connected to the waterfalls that came from the distant mountains, fed by the hordes of melting snow caused by winter's heavy mountain snowfall. He glared at Yami who was standing on the bank holding a boot in each hand, although the effect was ruined by his shaking.

Yami wrinkled his nose at him. "What? You needed a bath. You stink to high heaven."

"That's no excuse to throw me in the fricking icy water!" Jounochi yelled, before starting to wade out, arms crossed and hands rubbing himself frantically. Certain parts of his anatomy did not appreciate the water's temperature _at all_. Jou yelped as he reached the banks, only for Yami to push him back in.

"Oh, no you don't! You're not coming out until you wash yourself. _Properly_," Yami snapped, dropping the boots and placing his hands on his hips.

"I take back what I said about the squirrel. You're a shrew," Jou muttered under his breath, his teeth starting to clatter from standing so long waist-deep in the icy torrent.

"Oh, for the love of catnip, use your magic!" Yami hissed, upon seeing the shivering.

_For the love of catnip . . . ? _Jounochi blinked, struggling not to laugh as Yami glared at him impatiently. "Well?" he demanded.

Jou opened his palm upwards and a flame ignited. Instantly, heat spread through him. Yami shifted uncomfortably, but went back towards his pack. He returned with a small vial and a rag, which he tossed to the blonde, who caught them with his free hand. "What's this?" He frowned at the vial in confusion.

"Soap. Use it," Yami growled, before stalking back over to his fire and picking up the rabbit. He drew a skinning knife from his boot and started gutting the small carcass. Jou waited until he was sure Yami was focused on his task before starting to wade back ashore. He didn't get far when Yami glanced over his shoulder at him with a bloody knife and narrowed his eyes at him.

Jou chuckled nervously and opened the vial, pouring the silvery substance from it onto the rag and proceeded to wash himself under the witch cat's stern eyes. Satisfied that Jou was doing as he wanted, he turned back to skinning the rabbit. This time, Jou didn't try to head to shore.

When he felt he had washed himself enough and the temperature got too cold for him, he scrambled out, much to the displeasure of Yami who scowled at him. "What? I washed!" Jou protested the look.

"You still stink like you've been wallowing in pig's mud. Get back in," Yami retorted, finished cutting up the rabbit and tossing the cut up chunks into the cauldron of simmering water with some herbs he had taken from several bundles of cloth inside his pack. Whatever it was, it smelled good some far.

"Aw come on! It's freezing in dere!"

"Then use your magic."

"I can't wash and use it at the same time!" Jou argued, reaching for his clothes. Yami got up and slapped his hands away, scooping up his clothes and discarding them near the fire. He dug in his pack and drew out a strange orb that looked like it had been carved out of ice and several pieces of rope. Jou stared as he went up and down the river bank, picking up large stones and bringing it back to a small growing pile. Once he deemed he gathered enough, he tied together the rope around the strange orb and tied the rocks to it.

He shoved the weighted orb into Jou's hands, saying, "Here, use it."

"Er . . . what am I supposed to do with it?"

"Concentrate your powers on it until it glows red, then go back into the river to where the current isn't too strong and set it down. It should warm up the water around you long enough for you to wash properly. Lose it, and you will pay dearly for it," the witch cat threatened.

Jou stared at Yami for a moment, before trying to do as he instructed, and focused on the warm feeling deep inside him, before small flames flickered around his hands. The orb glowed, and slowly started turning pink. The pink darkened into a deep red color and Jou hurried into the river and set down the orb in a place where the current wasn't very strong, and stood fascinated as the water heated up around him.

"Better hurry up and get washing before your heat runs out," Yami called, and Jou jumped before immediately starting to wash. Something told him that Yami wouldn't let him out before he was completely satisfied Jou was clean and if he didn't finish within the next few moments; he wouldn't be allowed to use the orb thing again.

So focused on washing himself, he didn't notice Yami stand up and wander off until he came back with an armful of cloth. When he laid the cloth down, there was an assortment of vegetables that were still covered in dirt. Yami squatted at the edge of the stream and washed the potatoes and carrots before using a flat piece of rock to cut them up and tossed them in the boiling pot. Some wild onions and mushrooms followed.

Yami dug inside his pack again and pulled out a wooden spoon, and started stirring the meat, before glancing over at Jou. "Oh, you can get out now." He pulled out a thick blanket from his pack and handed it to Jounochi was he waded out before clunking him over the head. "Forget something?" he demanded.

The blonde blinked before remembering he had left the strange orb in the river. With a sigh he went back in to retrieve it and happily accepted the blanket after trading in the orb. They went back to the fire together and sat down, Yami cutting the ropes and rocks away from the glassy sphere, careful not to scratch it. He dried it off gently and pulled out a stained wooden box from his pack and opened it.

Jou quirked an eyebrow at the sight as Yami replaced the orb deep within the soft cushioning inside before sticking the box back inside. There was something strange about that pack . . . .

Yami noticed his look, but mistook it as him wondering what the orb was. "That's an absorbing crystal. It's of elfin make, and very rare. It can absorb a certain amount of magic as long as it's not unnatural. Elves are very attuned to nature, so they can only work with natural magics. An elfin friend of mine gave it to me."

The blonde teen blinked, "I wasn't . . . that's not what I . . . never mind."

Yami cocked his head at him but handed him a bowl of soup and a small wooden spoon, which Jou took gratefully. Yami settled against a tree trunk beneath the shade with his own bowl and ate. He wasn't surprised when Jou finished his bowl and looked hopefully towards the cooking pot. Living all those years trapped in Glennwood hadn't done the blonde justice. Yami had seen that the blonde was thinner than he should have been with his size and age.

He waved his spoon at the human, letting him take the rest of the stew. He had no worries of going hungry. There was an abundance of food around here. Plant life was plentiful and the animals were practically everywhere. If he had enough cooking dishes, and proper cooking skills, he could have easily cooked up a feast fit for kings. Or at least, provided the components of the meal.

When he was finished, he carried his bowl to the stream, and used the sand from the sandbanks to wash it out. He set the bowl aside on a piece of cloth to dry and went back to the fireside. Jou was still eating, wrapped up in the blanket Yami had given him, his dirty and worn clothes beside him. The honey eyed teen didn't notice when he picked up the soiled garments and carried them to the water and started washing.

Like with the bowls, he used sand to scrub out the sweat and the stains, although he had to be careful. The clothes were so threadbare he wondered how they had not fallen apart at the seams already. From the crudely sown and mismatched patches of cloth on the clothes, Yami was guessing Jou had had these clothes for a long time. He grimaced at them, before glancing over his shoulder at the human.

Jou was oblivious to his gaze as he turned a thought over in his head. The blonde was a human, and a rather smelly and annoying one too, but Yami couldn't help but to like him. And he _had_ saved from the townsfolk. Before he had left, Seto had told him to trust his instincts and go with them. And now they were telling him to keep this blonde close. There was something about the blonde that he felt he could trust.

And that promise . . . to his sister. What was it? Yami was curious now.

Abandoning the thought for now, he tossed the damp clothes over some branches to dry in the sun, and drifted back off towards his pack. Jou was on his third bowl by now as he rummaged in his pack before withdrawing a large round cylinder of wood. He twisted the top and tilted it, causing several rolled up pieces of parchment to slide out the top. He pulled them out and riffled through them before selecting one.

The parchment was revealed to be a map as he unrolled it out on the ground and weighed down the corners with rocks. He took out his compass and glanced between it and the map, ignoring Jou's curious stare. After a few moments of muttering to himself and having his fingers drift over several places on the map and glancing back forth to the map and the compass, his finger landed on a tiny blue line on the map.

He checked his compass his compass again and his finger trailed over the map before landing on an insignificant spot. Jou frowned at it. There was absolutely nothing where he was pointing. It was still in the forest, further down the river than the spot Yami had pointed at first, and where Jounochi assumed they were. He knew nothing of maps or navigation so he couldn't be sure what all the marks meant.

He didn't know what the curving and straight lines said either, though he knew the lines represented words. But that nothing unusual. Hardly anyone could read. Only the highborn with prestige and power were taught to read, and the merchants. The commoners either weren't allowed to learn how to read, or viewed it as a useless skill and focused more on earning enough money to make it through the coming tax day and surviving the harsh winters.

Yami seemed to understand the writing and the map very well. It made him wonder if all the other intelligent races with magic in their blood knew how to read too. Or was it only certain races? Yami never said much on where he came from or what he was doing, other than fulfilling a promise to his family. He didn't seem too keen on sharing that bit of information either.

Too distracted by his thoughts, he hadn't noticed Yami had packed away the maps again and had already washed out the now empty pot, bowl, and the spoon Jou had used and put them up until he was standing in front of him with his now dry clothes.

Jou blinked at it. There hadn't been enough time for them to dry. Yami shook them insistently and Jou shrugged, putting it down to magic, and got dressed as Yami turned away with the blanket and repacked that. Honey gold orbs eyed the pack again. How much stuff could Yami fit in there anyways? It couldn't be much, it was too lightweight, and he had already seen several things that ought to have made it weigh several pounds more than what it did.

"Coming?" Yami asked, tapping his foot impatiently. Jou jumped in surprise and hurried after the tri haired neko as he headed up the banks of the river, compass out and glancing at the sun. Jou wondered where they were headed now; it was a new direction than before. Maybe it was a short cut, or an easier route. He decided not to ask.

They traveled in silence for a long time. Surprisingly, it was Yami who broke the silence. "Jounochi?"

"Yeah?"

"What was that promise you made? To your sister?"

"Huh? Oh, I promised to find her a cure. You see, my little sister's going blind. We've tried everything we could think of, but nothing works. My father's a butcher, so we had enough money to have her checked over by some good magic healers. They said there was nothing they could do for her. She's already lost most of her sight. She can't see shapes anymore, only colors as far as I know. By the end of this year, she'll be completely blind."

Jou kicked a rock in front of him. "My parents lost all hopes of saving her. It's gotten so bad that my mother wouldn't even look at my father anymore. She seems to think it was some kind of curse from his side of the family, cause he got some magic blood in him, see? Then one day, some stranger rode into town, I don't who it was. Somebody important I'd guess, he had platoon of guards around him and was dressed all fancy. This young woman came up to us and told me the cure to my sister's blindness rests in some kind of herb."

"So you just set out to look for it?" Yami asked, curious.

"Well, not at first. My parents thought it was a load of bull, and father didn't want me leaving the shop. When an elf arrived in town we asked him about it, and he told us that the herb did exist, but it was extremely rare. It grows up in the mountains somewhere, but he didn't say which one, so now I have to search them all!" Jou answered, eyes on the ground, watching where he was going. "But ya know, it's kind of strange . . . what you said to me earlier."

"What? What did I say?"

"That weird black magic you had. You called it the shadows, right? Well, that woman that told me about the herb, she told me that the child of the shadows would help me if I helped him. Funny isn't it?" the human asked, laughing. "What a strange coincidence." The blonde teen ambled on ahead, unaware that Yami had stopped in his tracks and was staring wide eyed after him.

_Child of the shadows_ . . . coincidence? Yami didn't think so. Seto would have snorted at him for ever thinking such a thought. But the woman, was it possible she could have been a seer? And if she was . . . did that mean Jou was destined to join him on his quest?

~INSERT LINE BREAK~

The sun was setting by the time Jou groaned and plopped down on the ground. They had followed the river for hours and was now facing a large cliff face, which had a yawning hole at the base of it from which the river seemed to flow. "Okay . . . we've been through this. I can't go on as long as you can. So can we take a break now? Please?" He wasn't the mood to try to climb that cliff at the moment.

"Come on, we're almost there. Just a few more minutes and you can sit down and have a nice cooked dinner and sleep in a soft warm bed," Yami tempted.

"A bed? I thought there weren't any villages or towns out here."

"Not human ones, no. Mystic Hollow is village founded by witches and warlocks," the witch cat answered.

"What?! I'm not sleeping in a village full of people who can do some weird stuff to me!"

"Would you rather sleep in a tree?" Yami asked, crossing his arms.

Jou blinked, before grabbing Yami's arm. "Let's go." Yami smirked in victory. The blonde really didn't like trees. A second later, said blonde let out a loud yelp and crashed to the ground on his back, having run into something invisible.

Yami cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well that was very stupid of you." He paused for a moment, "Oh, right, you're human. Of course you can't see the barrier. Sorry, I should have warned you."

Jou sat up, rubbing his nose and narrowed his eyes. He couldn't see what barrier Yami was talking about, only an endless expanse of trees and underbrush, and the cliff face up ahead. Nothing really different from the rest of the forest. The blonde blinked Yami suddenly smiled and burst out into a stream of gibberish. It wasn't until Jou heard an answering voice speaking the same gibberish that Yami was talking to someone on the other side of the barrier in another language.

A second later, Yami took his hand and guided him forward. Jou had the strange sensation of walking under a cold waterfall without getting wet before he realized there was no light. He panicked momentarily, but Yami squeezed his arm reassuringly and Jou calmed. By the damp smell of earth, he was guessing they had entered some underground tunnel.

Within a few moments, light appeared, and they emerged into a realm of torchlight. High cliffs completely surrounded the large clearing they stood in, the wide area dotted with thatched huts. Jou spotted a river winding through the clearing, and realized they had gone under the cliff and come up in some sort of canyon inside it. Jou could still see the stars from where he stood.

He glanced over at Yami, looking curiously at the young boy with aqua green hair standing with him, having a conversation in their gibberish language. Whatever they were, saying, they seemed to be arguing about him, judging from the heated glares he received from the blue eyed stranger and the pointed fingers at him. After several long moments of arguing, which attracted a small crowd of villagers, an old woman tottered up the bickering pair with the help of a carved and knotted staff made of ash wood.

Whatever she said had the crowd dispersing and the male that led them here storming off. Jou guessed she was the village elder, and was in charge of the place by the respect the rest of them treated her. The aqua haired boy had even bowed to her before he left. Yami did the same as he said something to her in the gibberish language.

The elder nodded and turned and trundled away. Yami beckoned to Jou and together they followed her to a thatched house that had a large silver crescent moon with a red rose painted above the door. The symbol looked familiar, but Jou couldn't remember where he had seen it before. The woman pushed aside the strings of beads covering the door and entered. Jou and Yami followed suit.

Half an hour later, Jou had been given some bread and cheese to eat before being pointed towards to doorway separated from the rest of the hut by a large piece of cloth. Jou glanced at Yami, who nodded at him. Jou entered the room and found a bed. After eating, he climbed into bed and was soon fast asleep, snoring.

Yami peeked into the room and smiled slightly when he discovered Jou was already fast asleep. He backed away and settled at the low table in the center of the main room with the village elder across from him. There was a jingle of beads as the aqua haired boy from earlier entered the hut and sat himself on the pillow next to Yami. They sat there silently, for a moment.

"Mokuba's fine, Noah. So is Seto," Yami said quietly as the blue eyed boy opened his mouth to speak. Noah closed his mouth and nodded. Although Seto and Mokuba were his cousins, and they were only family left to each other, Seto refused to see Noah, or allow him near Mokuba. Yami didn't know exactly what had occurred, but the hints Mokuba had dropped behind his brother's back had helped him piece together some of the facts.

From the little he knew from Mokuba's and Seto's past was that their parents had died when they were young, and they had been taken in by their uncle, Noah's father. Noah had been born with an illness that limited his magic to the point where even casting charms was difficult. Gozaburo had not appreciated the fact that neither Seto or Mokuba had that complication and he had not been nice about it.

Noah was younger than Seto, although older than Mokuba, but he had been young enough to put up his father's hatred of Seto. Mokuba, who had been naught but a babe, didn't experience any of the abuse, although he had witnessed it on several occasions. Since Gozaburo had practically ignored Mokuba, Noah had grown to love Mokuba as his own little brother. Then something had happened, Yami had never figured out what, that resulted in Gozaburo's death and Seto fleeing with Mokuba.

Noah had been left abandoned by all of his father's former servants until Autumn, Mystic Hollow's village elder had found him and brought him here. After several years of living bitterly here, hating the world, Noah had come to realize all his father's mistakes. He had tracked down Seto and Mokuba, intending to make up for all the animosity between him and his elder cousin.

Yami had been a mere child then, watching with curious eyes as the two warlocks argued and Seto threw Noah off his estate. Time and time he came back, and each time resulted with Seto kicking the aqua haired boy out again and again. At some point during those long years, Seto had relented and let him in to see Mokuba, but still refusing to talk to him. Yami had been about twelve then, and had taken great interest in the sickly warlock who looked so much like his master.

The witch cat had grown to like him, and often he had tried to weasel out Seto's past from him. Seto had barred him even further to the point where Noah couldn't even come within thirty feet of the estate when he learned that particular bit of information. Yami's eyes had rang for days from the verbal assault they had received in the form of one of his master's rants of _"If I tell you to leave it alone, leave it alone!"_ accompanied with reasons why he shouldn't pry, manners, and the same over all over again, just phrased differently.

His master had been rather touchy on the subject of his past. Yami still went around trying to figure out what happened though. He had just gotten sneakier about it, instead of asking outright. Subtle questions, observing reactions to any subjects brought up, even once sneaking into Seto's room and snooping about. Except Seto had caught him at that, and the consequences hadn't been pleasant.

Seto had flooded the courtyard outside with water and invited the servants to take a day off and go take a  
"mud bath." The children had been more than happy to accept his offer, and had run all through the mansion, tracking mud _everywhere_. As his punishment for snooping, Yami had the joy of cleaning up all the mud while the servants sat back and pointed out spots he missed even as the children came back and left trails of mud in the areas he had just cleaned.

Needless to say, Yami never tried to snoop around his master's room again.

He looked over at Noah and opened his mouth to ask a question. "No," Noah said, before he could ask. "I am in enough trouble with my cousin. If he doesn't want you to know, I won't tell you." Yami pouted at losing his chance to learn anything.

Noah stood and headed toward towards another room, curtained off by a green silk cloth woven with water lilies. It must have been his room, because Autumn didn't say anything about it. Instead, she sighed and leaned back against the cushioned back of the chair she sat in. Unlike most chairs, it had no legs, and the seat was on the floor. There were no arms either. It reminded Yami of a wicker basket, with all the sides cut away except for one, and a cushion in place of a seat.

"Now then, young one. What did you wish to speak to me about?" Yami glanced at her, and she chuckled softly. "Oh don't look so surprised, I've been around long enough to read people better than my own fortunes. There's something you want to discuss in private, and not have nosy people around to hear it." Autumn glanced over her shoulder at the room Noah had entered, and there was a rustle of cloth and the sound of hastily retreating footsteps.

"Ah, young people these days. Always so curious. Always trying to get somewhere, even before they know where they're truly going. Like you . . . ." The old witch lifted a chipped cup and took a sip, her bright emerald peering over the rim at him.

"Autumn . . . I think everyone knows I'm walking blind here. Nobody has any idea of who my prey is, or an idea of why he would do such a thing."

It was true. Most witches and warlocks gathered together in villages such as these, very rarely ever going out to live among the other races, preferring to live among their own kind. Seto and Mokuba had been born and raised here, before their parents had died and Gozaburo had taken them away. Seto still contact with the village, and had brought Yami here several times. Of course, he had always been careful to steer clear of Noah, but had let Mokuba speak freely to their cousin for once.

Autumn chuckled, stirring her tea with a small silver spoon that looked like it been filched from a nobleman's home. Considering how some of the villagers traveled one or two times a year in guise of gypsies, telling fortunes to non-magic humans and acting as entertainment troupes for the rich, Yami didn't doubt it. Residents of Mystic Hollow in particular had a fascination with shiny objects. Yami wasn't exactly sure why.

"Be as that may be, I was not referring to your quest," the elderly witch answered. "Do not become so focused on your task that you cannot see the joys of life. There is more to life than avenging the dead, my dear kitten. Didn't Seto teach you that? Letting yourself become consumed by the task, leaving all other ties behind . . . you will lose more than you stand to gain."

"I . . . I don't understand."

"Perhaps you were not meant to understand. Or perhaps you were, and you are so focused on finding the answer that you cannot see what is right in front of you. It matters not. What matters, is that you set aside your thoughts and let your instincts guide you. Logic will not always lead you to the right place. Neither will your heart. They can be confused by the simplest of things and lead you astray. Now sleep, child."

"But I haven't . . ."

"You can ask me your question in the morning when you are not yawning and bemused by cryptic messages," Autumn declared gently. Yami nodded and stood, entering the room he often stayed in during his visits here. It was the same room Jou was already asleep in, snoring away on his stomach.

Yami rolled his eyes and slipped easily into his cat form. It still felt weird shifting, but at least it no longer hurt like it had when he was inexperienced. He hopped up on Jou's back and settled down, purring softly as he curled up. Jounochi was so warm he didn't mind that the human had hogged up his bed and was drooling on one of his favorite pillows. The blonde shifted beneath him, and his head lolled over to another pillow.

When Yami saw the first of the drool come, he flexed his claws against Jou's tender back before hopping off the bed and changing back to his humanoid form. Jou had not done much more than grunt and shift against the feel of his claws, but it had stopped him from getting drool on the cushion. Yami pulled the round and fluffy blue cushion off the bed, in case Jou moved and tried to drool on it again.

He set the pillow down on the desk against the wall and traced the various items carefully woven into the front of the pillow, a coming of age gift that had been created by all the people and creatures he knew. Each one had offered up something to be sown into the pillow, a reminder of those who cared for him:

Scales from Seto's dragon summons, a feather from a hippogriff he had met when he was young, a delicately carved ring made from the wood of an old willow tree from the elf Mana, a small crystal with a tiny rosebud preserved inside from Mana's older brother – Mahaddo, buttons and various bits of jewelry and baubles from the witches and warlocks of Mystic Hollow, a hair from a young unicorn he had guided back to her parents, the crescent and rose embroidery Autumn had sown on, the small – almost flat – marble outline of a cat, and the small bell that had been the first one Seto had given him to wear before it broke and had been replaced by the bell he wore now.

And in the center of the mix and matched items, several patches of cloth with charred edges had been sown. Yami smiled at the patches and changed back into the cat, lightly leaping onto the pillow and curling up on the damaged cloths. They still smelled of the jasmine and wildflowers that had grown like crazy around his former home.

Crimson eyes slid closed and dreamed of hot summer days of lounging in the straw filled wheelbarrow in the garden with his twin beside him and his mother humming softly as she pulled the weeds from among the blossoms she loved.

~INSERT LINE BREAK~


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Secrets and Rumors

Jounochi woke the next morning well rested and feeling better than he had for a long time. Yawning as he stood and stretched, he wandered out of the room in search of breakfast and his missing traveling companion. The main room was empty, but there was a bowl of porridge with some warm apple cider and fruit. There was a piece of parchment next to it, with something written on its creamy surface, but Jou couldn't read it. He assumed the tray was for him, as no one else was around.

He sat down and ate quickly, curious to find out more about this place. Nothing unusual happened to him last night, so he guess it was safe to say that all the rumors of witches and warlocks slipping poisonous snakes into children's beds and playing pranks on humans in their sleep weren't true. At least, he hoped they weren't.

Not knowing what to do with the dirty dishes, he left them there and strode outside the hut, taking in the view of the place without the confusing flicker of shadows caused by torchlight. He was surprised by how normal the place looked. He was expecting bursts of magic everywhere, women to be flying around on brooms and crackling, and large cauldrons on colorful bonfires simmering with gruesome potions. Guess he'd better toss that rumor out the window too.

Without the cover darkness, he could see how large the place was, compared to what he was able to glimpse last night. The size of it was enough to rival a portside city, although the thatched huts only occupied less than a quarter of it, despite how spaced out they all were.

Looking around, he noticed Mystic Hollow was divided into two, split almost dead center by the winding stream that fell from a waterfall on side into a small pool of crystal clear water, before exiting from the clearing through a hole in the opposite cliff face. Near the hole, he could see the gaping maul of the tunnel they had used to enter Mystic Hollow last night. A large stone bridge, big enough for two carts to ride over side by side, connected the two sides of the river.

On the opposite side of the river from Jou, the land was taken up by a forest of trees and bare ground that men were dragging strange tools through, making long furrows. Upon closer inspection, Jou realized the trees were parts of several orchards bunched together and the men were plowing fields to grow crops. Jou shook his head at the sight. Of all things he had imagined warlocks and witches to be, being farmers was not one of them.

Jou turned back to the side he was on, and paid closer attention to his surroundings, before retracting his earlier statement. There might not have been people riding around on brooms, or boiling cauldrons, or bursts of magic everywhere, but one proper look at this place and you'd know it wasn't inhabited by humans.

What he had taken for huts last night in the flickering torchlight and his tiredness because of their round shapes and thatched roofs were not huts at all. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know why he hadn't realized they weren't huts before. Huts were one storied with only one room encompassing the entire place. The Village Elder's "hut" had several rooms leading off from the main room.

In fact, these were . . . he had no idea what to call them. They were nothing like he had ever seen. The buildings _resembled_ huts, in a strange way, but they were not huts. They weren't cottages either. More like a combination of the two. Cottage huts maybe? Was there such a thing?

Whatever they were, they were two storied to three storied places, with windows without shutters, doorways covered with nothing but pieces of cloth or curtains of stringed beads. Some buildings had balconies, some had rope bridges leading from place to another, others had ladders leading up to windows, or staircases wrapped around the house going to different levels of the building. Most of the places even had porches, which was fairly uncommon unless you were at least of nobleman status.

There were outlandish decorations on the buildings too. Painted symbols around the windows and above the doorway. Wind chimes made of feathers, silver, and pieces of multicolored rocks and crystals. Trees, plants, and animals chiseled out of stone or carved from wood were everywhere, sitting beside doors, perched on roofs, or positioned in random places that made Jou think they were trying to trip someone.

Candles and incense sat on window sills and on the porch railings. Ivy and moss grew on the sides of the buildings, somehow looking as though it was perfectly natural for it to be growing there. Despite the early season, flowers sprouted in odd places here and there among the buildings. The strange moon and rose symbol from the Village Elder's house seemed a major theme among all the adornments.

Jou shook his head at the sheer oddity of it all. There were no doors or shutters to keep each other out. These places were all open, and anyone could stroll into another building without a care in the world, and the owners couldn't stop them if they decided to rob them or murder them in their beds. This was becoming more like a dangerous place than he had realized before.

Yet despite the oddness of the way the village had been built, there were some human qualities too. As he treaded carefully down the pathways between the houses, laughing children ran amok among the buildings with balls and other familiar toys.

Young boys had mock fights with wooden blades, and young girls played with dolls and little figurines of animals artfully carved from wood. Never mind the fact that some of those animals made noises similar to their real life counter-parts and moved. Jou shivered at a wolf that attacked the figure of a leopard and engaged in a battle that actually put scratches on the opposing figurine. What were they thinking, giving little girls toys that fought each other? That was for the boys!

He hurried away. Okay, maybe there _weren't_ so many humanistic qualities. Jou continued on his path, trying to find something that was similar to the human culture. He passed some stalls selling the unusual wind chimes, and watched as a warlock walked by and just picked one up, before walking away with it. The old man who manned the stall didn't even bat an eyelash or seem to notice the theft.

Jou was tempted to chase down the thief and return the poor man's stolen merchandise to him, but decided against it. Warlocks were not be messed with, and he had wish to experience whatever curse the warlock would place on him for catching him. He shuddered at the thought.

After a while, he started noticing differences between the "cottage huts" he had just passed and the buildings around him. He saw heavy black smoke coming from a building around one corner and decided to investigate. The sound of hammering grew louder as he approached. He was surprised to find a forge, with a smith's shop attached.

A chestnut colored mare neighed inquiringly at him from where she stood, one back leg held up as a beefy man with a coal stained apron was hammering a new horseshoe onto her hoof. Cautiously, he stepped in and examined the place. It very closely resembled the forge back at home from all the times he had gone to get his own horse fitted for new shoes or had gone to get some tools repaired.

There were two anvils, a wall covered with tools, dirty countertops laden with various pieces of metal, a stack of wood and a pile of coal off to one side, and the bellows near the fire towards the back. So focused on matching up the similarities of this place to a human forge, he didn't notice the hammering had stopped until a gruff voice spoke.

"You need something?" Jou whirled to find the smith looking at him, rubbing his hands off on a cloth. Nervously, Jou shook his head. The man looked at him closer. "Ah, you're the human our kitten had brought in. What did he say your name was again . . . it was an odd name that started with a J . . . That's right, you're Jounochi."

"Er . . . kitten?" was all Jou could think of to say.

"Yami," the man clarified. "Let me guess, you were in here because you were comparing differences between this forge and a human one. Am I correct?" Jou laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

The smith shook his head at him. He pulled off his apron and washed his arms and face as best as he could from the barrel of water next to him before striding towards Jou. The blonde fidgeted as the warlock placed a hand on his back and guided him out of the forge. The smith paused for a moment as he glanced back at the horse and clicked his tongue at her.

Ears perked as almond colored eyes locked onto the source. The warlock clicked his tongue at the mare again and she neighed before trotting out and down the street.

Jou stared after her until he was distracted by the smith once again pushing him lightly. "Come along now, human. Yami asked me to take you to the Swan Siblings' home if I saw you before he was finished speaking with the Elder." The blonde blinked. _The Swan Siblings?_ Well, at least he knew where Yami had disappeared off to.

As the warlock guided him through the dirt streets, Jou took notice of the peoples' clothing for the first time. As a peasant, Jou was used to simplistic clothes with no adornments. There were the noblemen class's clothes as well, expensive cloths rich in colors from dyes that had to be imported, and speckled with jewels or sown with golden and silver threads.

Somehow, the witches and warlocks of Mystic Hollow had managed to combine these two elements, substituting fancy jewels with bits and pieces of things one could easily find in a forest. Feathers, colorful stones obviously taken from the riverbanks, acorns, dried grasses woven into odd shapes and symbols, flowers, vines, furs, items carved skillfully from wood and what looked like stone, and even some animal bones.

Jou remembered seeing people dressed almost like this before, when a traveling caravan of gypsies came into town and provided some entertainment for a festival in exchange of proper places to sleep and a meal. Wait . . . did that mean all gypsies were witches and warlocks? No wonder they could do magic so well.

Jou was pulled from his thoughts as they stepped up onto a porch and through the cloth doorway with the image of a pond and reeds sown onto it. He managed to catch a glimpse of a white swan painted above the doorway before he the warlock guiding him called out.

"Aella. Dagda. Coventina."

For a moment, nothing happened, then Jou was suddenly faced with a young woman who appeared to be about twenty. Her warm brown eyes blinked slowly at him. White swan feathers had been woven into the long ebony braid hanging down her over her right shoulder. Likewise, the plain dress she wore had also been adorned with swan feathers and delicate silver chains.

After the initial shock wore off, Jou realized there were two identical people to her left. One was a female, dressed exactly like the first down to the last detail, except her braid was hanging down her left shoulder instead of her right. The third one, who was standing between his two sisters, was male.

He was taller than both of the women and had an older look to him. His hair was shoulder length with white swan feathers adorning the raven black locks similar to his sisters. He had tiny braids along one side. The warlock was dressed in a silver colored vest and a pair of normal black trousers complete with boots.

"Um . . . hi?" Jou said meekly under the three pairs of dark green eyes boring into him with emotionless expressions. The smith said something in their gibberish language and instantly the two women perked up and grabbed onto his wrists, dragging him through yet another cloth curtain. Their brother had a brief conversation in gibberish with the smith before he left and the warlock followed them into the room.

The girls were scrambling around him with pieces of marked rope, looking him up and down and giggling as they had a rapid and excited conversation over his head. Jou could do nothing but sit where he had been pushed by the two sisters. He was still blinking at the sudden turnaround of the witches' behavior. One moment they were staring at him like he was something the cat dragged in and the next they were acting like five year olds who found a hidden stash of sweets.

The brother settled himself against a table and kept his eyes on him. He was the only one who kept his stone faced look. His hard stare making him nervous, Jou turned to look elsewhere in the room. There were piles of fabrics and furs everywhere along with needles and spools of thread. In one corner there was a loom. In another there was spindle with baskets of unspun wool and cotton next to it.

Several shelves along the back wall were filled with the complete and incomplete forms of dresses, tunics, and trousers. There was the table the warlock leaned against, and the stool Jou sat on now.

Jou blinked. Then blinked again. These clothes . . . the loom . . . the fabrics . . . were the witches seamstresses?

"Ow!" the blonde human looked up as one of the women poked him in the shoulder and babbled at him in gibberish. Jou stared uncomprehendingly at her making the female stamp her foot in frustration before looking at her siblings who shrugged at her. Laughter made the four of them look up.

Yami stood in the doorway, one hand raised to move the cloth out of the way. Jou grinned in relief at the sight of a familiar friendly face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the brother relax in his post.

"Enjoying yourself, Jounochi?" Yami asked, coming to sit on the table beside the warlock who nodded in greeting and smiled warmly at him. It was the first friendly expression Jou had seen on his face.

"Actually . . . I'm confused," the human admitted.

Yami blinked at him before glancing around the three other occupants of the room and understanding dawned in his eyes. "Ah, Atlas didn't tell you. I apologize. I asked him to bring you here if he saw you before I was finished talking to Autumn. I guess I should have asked him to explain the purpose of bringing you here as well."

"Duh . . . what? Who the heck is Atlas and why were you talking to a season? It's spring anyways, not fall."

Yami almost fell off the table in hysterical laughter. "No, no. I didn't mean I was talking to a season! Autumn is the name of the Village Elder. Atlas is the smith who brought you here. He's one of the few people here who can speak the human tongue."

"Oh . . ." Jou was feeling rather stupid now, his face flushing slightly in embarrassment. The two witches and their brother were looking back and forth between the two in confusion and it was obvious now that they had not understood a word either of them had said.

"Now then. These three are the Swan Siblings. Aella, Conventina, and their older brother Dagda. Aella and Conventina are twins as you can see, and they're the local seamstresses. I asked them to get you some new clothes, as yours have seen better seasons. You need more than one set of clothes if you're going to be traveling anyways and the twins are excellent at making sturdy clothing." Yami gestured down at himself as he spoke.

For the first time, Jou noticed Yami was no longer wearing the clothes they had met in. His cotton pants and trousers had been replaced by a loose black tunic with gold stitching around the edges and a pair of soft creamy gray stockings. He was still wearing the bell and ribbon around his neck and the same boots as before. His wrists were tied with crimson ribbon in the form of bracelets.

His clothing didn't look anything close to sturdy. In fact, it looked like one smack into a branch would tear them to shreds. Yami seemed to notice his doubtful look and chuckled. "I know it doesn't look like it, but they are."

Jou shrugged as he watched the two witches chatter to each other in their native tongue. When Yami had mentioned their names, they had stopped their staring and went to rummage about among all the fabrics. A pile of them were already gathering on the table behind Yami and their older brother.

Finally, they came back to him with some of the fabrics and murmured something at Yami before gesturing to Jounochi. Yami nodded before looking at his blonde companion. "She says they're going to show you some sheets of cloth and you should nod if you like it and shake your head when you don't."

"Oh, okay," Jou answered, and Yami translated for him. And so the long process of nodding and shaking his head began. The witch twins went on a delighted and enthusiastic rampage showing him cloths of every color, pattern, and texture that he had never even imagined.

The sun slowly passed overhead while they worked, jabbering to themselves in their work and bustling around their shop. Their brother had moved to sit on the floor, his back resting against one of the table legs in boredom. Yami had turned into a cat and was curled up within the discarded fabrics taking a nap. Jou could barely see the tufts of black fur from beneath the layers of cloth he had crawled into.

By the time the witches had exhausted their fabric supplies, Jou was ready to take a nap too; _after_ he got something to eat. Dagda started when he noticed they were done and threw his hands up in relief. He stood and glanced at the pile of cloth on the table before shaking his head and grinning. He rapped his knuckles on the table, causing a small head to poke out at him curiously.

Seeing Jou getting off the stool he had been sitting on for the last several hours, he wriggled out of his cozy nest and stretched, arching his back and yawning. He purred as Dagda rubbed his head. Yami leapt off the table and landed on the ground as a human.

The witch cat exchanged some words with the twin witches before nodding. The tri haired male grabbed Jou's wrist, and for the third time that day the honey eyed human found himself being pulled off to a new location. He flushed when he heard the witches giggling behind him as Yami bounded out of the house dragging poor Jounochi with him.

"So Jounochi, how do you like Mystic Hollow so far?" Yami asked once they exited the cottage, or the hut, or whatever the building was called.

"Eh . . . it's okay I guess. It's just . . ."

"Not what you're used to?" Yami finished his thought. Jou nodded. "How about I give a tour? That way this place won't seem so foreign to you."

"That sounds good. By the way . . . . The two seamstresses and their brother . . . why are they called the Swan Siblings anyways?"

"Huh? Oh, that. Their parents had a bad habit of using spells to demonstrate their feelings. It was fine and all, until one day one of their spells backfired and cursed them. They turned into swans and flew away when the twins were only eight years old," Yami answered.

"Are you kidding me? They actually turned into swans?" His voice held a note of disbelief. Yami's ears twitched as he looked coolly over at him. "You're . . . not . . . kidding."

Yami shook his head. Wordlessly, Jou followed as the witch cat pulled him down the street. He pointed out the pub as they passed it, before dragging him into a building that had more windows than any of its neighbors and savory smells coming out of it.

Jou was delighted to discover it was a bakery. Yami spoke to the elderly woman that had come in from the back, wiping her flour dusted hands on her even more flour covered smock. She vanished into the back again and Jounochi whooped when she returned with a piping hot cherry pie. Yami took a slice and sat back to watch Jou devour the rest of it with a small smile on his face.

After Jou had been given a wet towel to get the sticky remains of the pie off his hands, Yami once again hauled him out onto the street. He showed Jou a pottery maker surrounded by his creations, a butcher shop which made both of them wrinkle their noses at the sight of dead carcasses and the metallic smell of blood, and an herbalist shop that made Jou homesick, remembering his promise to his baby sister, until they reached the outskirts of the cottage huts.

A brewery was set aside from the rest of the buildings, along with a tanner shop and a mill. There was empty green space all around the huts, where sheep, cows, horses, and goats roamed freely, without anyone watching them. There were several barns and stables up against the cliff walls. Jou could see some pig pens and chicken coops among them. None of the animals strayed into the village, and Jou wondered why. Maybe it was magic?

By that time, the sun was starting to set, and Jou followed his shorter companion back to the Village Elder's house. Dinner was already laid out on the low table with Autumn and the aqua haired warlock from last night. As Yami and Jou seated themselves, blue eyed narrowed at him with a cold gaze.

"Noah, please don't. He's not . . . he's not like them." Yami pleaded, catching the look.

The dark sea blue orbs shifted from Jounochi to the witch cat. Noah dipped his head. "For _you_, I will not pursue this. But if he steps one toe out of line, I won't hesitate."

"Huh?" Jou was utterly lost.

Yami shook his head at him. "Don't. It's better if you did not ask."

The rest of the dinner passed in silence, and Noah quickly retreated to his room. Yami's ears drooped as he watched him leave with a sad look on his face. Honey gold eyes watched his expression with puzzlement. "What's wrong?"

"It's not my place to tell you," Yami answered. He set his empty bowl aside and left the house.

Jou was left blinking after him with a spoon in his mouth. Suddenly, he was very aware he had been left alone with a strange old woman. He glanced at the village elder. She was fingering one of the many necklaces around her neck and staring mindlessly into the flickering fireplace. Nervously, Jou backed away from the table and slipped into the room he had spent the previous night in. Sleep did not come easily to him that night.

When he awoke the next morning, he found a black cat curled up on an odd blue pillow sown with random objects. The crimson ribbon around the cat's neck proved it was Yami. Not wanting to disturb his friend, he snuck quietly out of the room and out into the fresh morning air. It smelled of pine trees and damp grass.

Seeing none of Mystic Hollow's residents around, he ambled towards the bridge and sat upon the edge, watching the water flow beneath him. Jou fell backwards in surprise when he tilted his head to glance at the village only to discover Noah was standing barely three feet away, watching him.

"What's the big idea!? Sneaking up on people like that!" Jou muttered angrily as he picked himself up. Noah narrowed his eyes at him with a look of distaste on his face. Like he'd rather be crawling through pigs' wallow than speaking with him.

"Yami tells me that you're a fire mage," the aqua haired boy stated snidely.

"Yeah, what about it?"

Noah shook his head at him. "I don't see why Yami trusts you so much. You're a human. Not to mention you're a fire mage on top of that."

"You got something against humans and fire mages?"

"Humans, yes. Fire mages, not so much. But Yami . . ." the warlock clicked his tongue. "It's a wonder he didn't abandon you in the woods. I would have, if I was him."

"What's supposed to mean? Yami hates fire?"

"Tell me human: what was Yami's reaction when he learned of your ability? He was terrified, wasn't he?" Jou stared down at the ground. "Just what I thought."

"Why?" Jou whispered. "Why fire mages? He was perfectly fine around the campfire he made."

"Why don't you go ask his family that?" Before Jou could demand an explanation, Noah was already gone, and all Jou could see of him was the white robes he was wearing vanishing around a corner. Jou didn't try to follow. Somehow, he doubted he would be able to catch up with the smaller boy.

He sighed and turned back to the water, only to turn back as he heard his name being called. Yami appeared on a roof, one hand held up to shield his eyes from the sun before his ears perked as he saw the person he was searching for. Within moments the teen had bounded off the roof onto the bridge.

"There you are! What are you doing out here? I thought the village folk made you nervous," Yami asked, climbing up on the stone railing to sit beside the blonde.

"Yeah well, they're not as scary as I thought they were. Well, most of them anyways," Jou commented, flicking a leaf down into the water and watching it sail of with the current.

"Ah, you're talking about Noah, aren't you?" the witch cat guessed, making Jou start. "What did he say to you? I saw him a moment ago, and unless he swallowed a lemon, he was here with you."

"Yeah, you're right, he was here." Jounochi mindlessly traced a rip in his threadbare pants. "Noah . . . doesn't seem like humans very much."

"You'll find a lot of people here do not trust the humans. Noah has his own reasons to loathe your kind. But, that's not all he told you, is it?"

"He said something about how he didn't get why you trusted me. I asked him why you were so afraid of my fire when you were perfectly okay next to the campfire you made. Noah told me I should ask your family."

Yami laughed softly. "That would be a rather difficult task to accomplish. Unless you're a spiritual medium."

"Oh . . . I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't do the deed." Yami hugged his knees to his chest, his tail curling around his ankles. He looked so vulnerable Jounochi couldn't help but to slide closer to him and wrap his arm comfortingly around the witch cat's shoulders. Yami gave a small purr and leaned against him. "Jounochi?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm . . . leaving tomorrow morning. I promised to guide you out of the forest, and I will. But . . . well, if you want to stay with me . . . you know, while you're looking for that herb and I just thought that maybe . . . well, maybe you'd like some company. And I–" The blonde laughed and cut him off by pressing a finger to the tri haired teen's lips.

"It'd be nice to have a traveling companion. Especially one who knows how to find food and cook. I don't have any experience with that hunting business, if that's okay with you?"

"I can teach you, if you want. Or at least, I can show you what is and isn't edible in the wild. Not everyone has the necessary skills to become a hunter. Now come on, I think the Swan twins have some new clothes ready for you. They need to make sure they fit right."

Yami smiled as he leapt off the stone railing and tugged Jounochi with him, laughing as they scattered a flock of chickens who squawked in surprise as the pair ran through their midst. Around them, the villagers were waking and the soft voices of women murmuring to themselves and the giggles of children escaping the confines of their homes to play in the early morning sunlight.

Jou smiled at it all. "They all seem so happy," he whispered aloud.

"They are. This isn't a human village. Here, everyone is family. There's no money system here. Everyone shares what they have. When an artisan makes something, it isn't because they're trying to make a living, it's because they truly enjoy what they do. Everyone helps out to provide all the comforts we want. It's kind of like one of your abbeys."

"Oh, I see. That's why all these houses are open like this? Because no one's scared someone else is gonna . . . you know?"

"Yep," Yami answered, tugging him inside the Swan Siblings' home. "Coventina . . . Aella! I've brought Jou to get his new clothes!" he called out in a sing-song voice. Jou whimpered as the twins dashed into the room and dragged him into their workshop.

They were babbling excitedly in their native tongue and shoving clothes into his arms. Dagda smirked at him from his perch upon the table as Yami joined him in cat form. The small black cat curled up comfortably in the warlock's lap, purring at Dagda scratched his ears. Jounochi was ushered behind a wooden screen to change in privacy.

Once Jounochi had tried on all the clothes and the girls were completely satisfied they fit right, Yami led him back to the Elder's house for a late breakfast, which Jou devoured eagerly. They ate on the porch swing, watching the unusual flurry of activity. Puzzled, the blonde pointed this out to Yami.

"They're getting ready," Yami explained.

"For what?"

"Tonight's a full moon. Mystic Hollow's holding a celebration in honor of the Moon goddess. I've only seen it a couple times before, but it's beautiful. There'll be a feast, and the parade, and the ritual. You'll be the first human to ever see it."

"RITUAL!" Jou shouted, alarmed. He's heard the wild tales of how the witches stole innocent maidens from their beds danced naked around a large fire as they howled at the moon in order to steal their victim's youth and beauty.

The witch cat laughed at the expression on Jou's face. "Oh relax. We're not going to sacrifice anyone or dance naked around a bonfire or anything like that."

Jou blushed at the fact that Yami had guessed the thoughts going through his head. "Then what is it?"

"You'll see. I think you'll like it," Yami said with a secretive smile. A young girl with a wreath of flowers upon her brow ran up to them offered Yami a bouquet of wild flowers. There was a yearning look in the crimson eyed teen's eyes as he gazed upon the flowers.

Aella – It means "whirlwind." Anglo-Saxon.

Coventina – Goddess of springs and wells. Possible meaning is "memory of snow." Celtic.

Dagda – Myth name of a god of knowledge and magic. Celtic.


End file.
